TRANSCENDENCE 9

Savannah grew more and more exhausted. The harder she fought, the more she exerted... but compared to Percival's holy flames, she was pitiful. She couldn't land a single hit. Everything she knew relied on being close up, and Percival obviously wasn't capable of that.

And then she fell. The weight was too much, and Savannah's legs gave out, sending her knee-first into the snow. She leaned there for a moment, her flaring fingers singing holes in the snow.

She glanced up, grimacing at his compliment. Her fingers curled inwards... and then her arm whipped upwards, sending the gathered snow in his face! It struck home, and when Savannah was sure Percival was stunned from the blow, she rose up and began to scamper off!

She couldn't face loss - especially not at the hands of a nine year old. This was almost as bad as Nuala.
(Savannah)
Percival would have moved towards her; intent on helping her up, wanting to help out the girl -- he'd beaten her quite badly.. Holyfire was good for fighting, due to being able to heal the enemy's body, while still exhausting them; the most convenient way of battle.. Making them too tired to fight, but not wounding them -- anything of the sort! He'd only meant to harm people a few times in his life -- Yokai, and those Skeletons...

But, with Savannah; no real intent was there! But once the snow was thrown into his face, and the girl began to run away -- the boy would have tried to stop her. He had to.. He wanted to make friends with her. As such? A hand would have reached out once the now was cleared from his face! He had to stop her!

"Wait!", a hand draws forth -- she had to be careful! Percival knew it well after his last few fights. . .

She was going to slip on ice from the high amounts of fire magic they'd blasted at eachother, having heated up, melted, and frozen over the snow.
(Percival Whitefall)
Savannah begins to scamper away, but the ground around the battlefield was dotted with the layer of permafrost that held Frostvale hostage. They had melted all of the snow away, and what was left beneath was a sheet of slick, slippery frost that would never quite thaw.

And it certainly didn't agree with the metal of Savannah's boots. She began to move to a stop, but it was too late - she was too far! She skidded and slid, and a cry of shock escaped her chest. She was going to fall, right on top of -- !

Savannah's world went black. All she felt was the weariness in her bones and the sharp pain that took over her arm, shaking her to the core. Her eyes opened wearily, and all she saw was red, crimson splattered everywhere - on top of her jacket, the rock, dotting the snow and the leather black of her pants...

She took in a sharp breath. She knew the well-doing Percival would rush to her aid, but she couldn't let herself be seen in this state. Even past the nauseating stain of the gash on her arm where the rock had torn and ripped at her skin, she cared more about her reputation.

Her free, uninjured hand rose up to stop him.

"Don't move," she managed beyond clenched teeth, "I -- I have this."

She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment, allowing herself to catch her breath...
(Savannah)
Percival had sparred here so many times -- it would have made sense to try and tell her about it.. But he really, really did not expect that of Savannah to try and run away immediately. When he had fought Tenri, the girl had taken his hand -- and as such, she was pracitally bound to slip upon the ice that was in place.

So, once she did -- the boy almost had a pained expression! he wanted to help; and as such, even if tuned out, the boy tries to reason with her! "But -- you're hurt.", he states, before realizing that, apparently the girl knew what she was doing...

As such, he makes a move to begin to melt the ice with his fire magic! The only reasonable thing he could try. It'd take a bit, but by the time Savannah was done, the ice would have been melted in a small, simple path leading to the Vitani Manor; which had a path back to Frostvale without ice.
(Percival Whitefall)
If Percival insisted, Savannah's rejections would grow more and more violent. The snow around her melted, and the water it made blasted up in a wall of protective steam. She wasn't going to be interrupted.

She wouldn't let someone care for her. She refused to be indebted. That's the last thing the girl needed.

Swallowing, she turned her stare to the gash on her arm. It was painful and large - it appeared she had slid and fallen onto the rock, but when her footing gave way, she moved backwars and the impact was a strange, vertical movement. It tore the flesh of her forearm, revealing sinew and muscle. Blood was pouring and splattering the ground and Savannah's vision was whirling.

She huddled over herself, shuddering and shaking. Her hand moved to hover over the wound. She began to recite the words of the anonymous author, murmuring them beneath the roar of her steam wall...

"Imagine the flow of time, and imagine how it moves independently from everything else. Nothing changes the movement of time. Nothing can change it - but you. Visualize the string that is time, the infinite line that has no end, no start. You are on one point, but with the power of your mana, you can shift a certain space, a certain area, to be at another."

"You can change time - reverse it, or expedite it."

At once, time began to unfold before Savannah: the fight, her defeat, her anger, frustration, erupting out before her... The snowball, her humilation, and finally, her struggle to get away.

She paused. She saw herself, moving towards a blatant patch of ice that she didn't see, blinded by rage. The gash on her arm was a direct result, where the flesh tore, the muscle was shredded, blood poured...

And Savannah willed it to reverse. Blood rose up from the air, trickling back within her arm. The exposed muscle shifted and stiffened and the tear in her skin began to repair, moving as if it were sewing itself together.

And then the wall of steam fell. Savannah sat on the ground with her legs crossed, staring at the patch of healed skin.
(Savannah)
And then something changed.

If Percival tried to speak or interact with Savannah, he'd find she was in a completely different world. Her stare was distant, focused on that patch of skin - it was a ripple in the flow of time, a disparity, a change.

She saw everything for a split second. She saw herself running, charging towards the rock. All at once, she tripped, and she didn't. She continued running, and she didn't. She stood there, staring at Percival, and she ran away, charging towards Frostvale.

Every possible reality exploded before her - every choice she could have made, every mistake fixed, made, rectified, changed... Ghosts of Savannah ran about the area, screaming and falling and running and cursing.

Time wasn't flat, she realized, time was ever-expansive. Time was everywhere. Time was her choices, time was her possibilities, her past, her future, her now, and what could have been.

And for just a moment, Savannah was enlightened.

A gasp of breath shook her when she came to. She shook herself awake, out of her trance. Even then, she was out of it. The sudden realizations, the discoveries that came from her mistake... They were world changing.

A vacant stare is offered to Percival before, once more, she turns on her heel and begins to walk away...
(Savannah)